Labor to introduce legislation allowing family members to ban relatives from clubs

By Lisa Visentin & Nick O'Malley

7 July 2018 — 5:48pm

The NSW Labor opposition will push for new laws to allow family members to have their relatives with gambling problems banned from entering pokie venues.

Opposition Leader Luke Foley said Labor would introduce legislation when NSW Parliament returns to allow third-party exclusions from gambling venues as a "last resort option" when the avenue of self-exclusion is not taken up.

“Allowing families to apply for exclusion orders will put another tool in the toolkit to assist problem gamblers," Mr Foley said. "This is a problem that affects many families. It is time to act.”

However, the proposed reform may be dead on arrival, with the NSW government lukewarm on the idea.

A spokesman for Racing Minister Paul Toole pointed to an independent report by Schottler Consulting, commissioned by the government in 2016, which concluded that "while potentially benefiting a small number of families ... exclusion of gamblers from hotels and clubs is unlikely to be an effective means of reducing gambling harm to families".

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"Families, gamblers and counsellors reported that financial support, mandatory counselling and support for families and partners may be more effective than third-party exclusion in reducing gambling harms," the minister's spokesman said.

"The Responsible Gambling Fund is considering this research [and] examining ways to overcome the challenges identified."

Joy and Mike Van Duinen, with their daughter, Tracey Filocamo, holding a photo of Gary Van Duinen who took his own life after a 13-hour gambling binge on Sydney's northern beaches. Credit:Janie Barrett

Under NSW law, all gambling venues must offer a self-exclusion scheme, which is contingent upon the gambler voluntarily opting-in.

According to Liquor and Gaming NSW, the minimum exclusion period is six months, during which time the "problem gambler agrees to ​stay away from the gambling venue, and the venue agrees to help the gambler to stay away."

However, the limitations of this scheme were again laid bare last week after the Heraldreported the case of Gary Van Duinen, who died by suicide in June after a 13-hour gambling binge at local clubs on Sydney's northern beaches.

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Mr Van Duinen's wife and his mother had both appealed to Dee Why RSL – the venue he most frequently gambled at – to intervene to curb his gambling.

Under the current system, venues cannot legally intervene and exclude a problem gambler based on the assertions of third parties.

Labor's move has drawn early support from the state's powerful clubs lobby group, ClubsNSW, which has long called for the expansion of the exclusion scheme to extend to family members.

"ClubsNSW welcomes this announcement from Luke Foley and is looking forward to working with all stakeholders to make third-party exclusions a reality," a ClubsNSW spokesman said.

"We think it is going to remove the one weakness in the system of multi-venue self-exclusion, which has proven to be one of the most effective tools we have to help people struggling with their gambling."

Under Labor's proposal, an independent expert panel will be established to decide if a ban should be imposed, based on all available evidence. The scheme would also allow for orders for mandatory counselling to be issued.

"The process would mean reaching out to the problem gambler first and offering them the option of self-exclusion and therapeutic intervention. Third-party exclusion is a last resort," Mr Foley said.

Labor's gaming spokesperson Michael Daley said the panel would have expertise in psychology, the law and community family services, and "at every stage the anonymity of the complainant is protected".

Allison Keogh, from the NSW Alliance for Gambling Reform, said that without additional measures to strengthen the obligations of pokie venue operators, third-party exclusions "will simply shift responsibility to family members".

"It is a measure of last resort and desperation and it needs to be supplemented with clear and ethical responsibilities of venue operators," Ms Keogh said.